BATON ROUGE – Two men accused of killing a Baton Rouge couple in 2015 will have separate juries for the same trial set later this year.
Ernesto Alonso, 42, and Frank Garcia, 48, were arrested in connection to the kidnapping and murders of Denis and Suzanne Duplantier.
District Attorney Hillar Moore said that the trial is set for November 27.
The Duplantiers were taken from their home on Highland Road in October 2015. Their bodies were later found inside their vehicle at a truck stop in Hammond. Authorities believe the killers strangled the victims after getting access to a safe in the home, then dumped their bodies and vehicle in Hammond and fled.
Alonso worked for the couple as a handyman and lived on the couple's property.
Investigators say cell phone locations show Garcia and Alonso in Baton Rouge at the time of the murders, and phone records show contact between the two suspects. They also found things stolen from the Duplantiers in Garcia's Florida home.